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Facebook’s political ads policy is already a disaster

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Facebook can't escape the controversy over political ads. As it faces pressure from politicians and political groups, Facebook is starting to make exceptions to its policy that it won't fact-check advertisements published by politicians. Over the weekend, the company took down an ad posted by a left-leaning political action committee that falsely claimed Sen. Lindsey Graham supports the Green New Deal. Facebook said it took the action because the ad came from a political action group, not a politician, and therefore different rules applied. So the group found a workaround: One of the PAC members, Adriel Hampton, filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for California governor. Now a politician, as the logic of Facebook's policies go, he can run as many political ads as he wants. Except apparently not. Facebook on Tuesday evening said it was nixing Hampton's workaround....

Axios Pro Rata: Bloom behind the scenes— Auto mega-merger — Unicorn faire

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Top of the Morning | Wednesday, October 30, 2019   View in browser   Presented By IBM   Pro Rata By Dan Primack · Oct 30, 2019     Top of the Morning Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   Fuel cell maker Bloom Energy went public in July 2018, six years after a scandal in which its bankers were found to have misled prospective investors. But Axios has learned that Bloom itself has a history of playing fast and loose with its numbers. Bloom was one of Silicon Valley's earliest unicorns, with a high-powered board of directors that includes Colin Powell and John Doerr. It's a cautionary tale of what can happen when narrative overtakes results. Axios has reviewed hundreds of pages of confidential company documents, plus dug deeper into publicly-available information. They show that Bloom repeatedly disseminated un...